Penny Conly Ellison L'89

Adjunct Professor of Law

Education

JD - Penn Law - '89

BS - Pennsylvania State University - '84

Penny Ellison has taught Animal Law and Ethics and supervised pro bono projects involving animal protection since 2006. She is a frequent speaker at seminars on Animal Law offered by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. She also serves as Executive Director of Hand2Paw, a nonprofit organization that connects homeless youth and shelter animals through volunteering and internships.

She also serves as Circuit Mediator for the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit where she mediates all types of civil cases on appeal. She has mediated more than 1000 cases, achieving an approximately 40% settlement rate. Before joining the Court of Appeals, she was a partner with the Philadelphia law firm of Dilworth Paxson LLP where she practiced commercial litigation for 16 years. Her litigation practice was broad-based, focusing on complex commercial cases but also including employment litigation, civil rights cases, and bankruptcy matters. Her litigation practice was broad-based, focusing on complex commercial litigation but including employment disputes, civil rights cases and bankruptcy matters. She acted as lead counsel in cases involving claims of civil rights violations, misappropriation of trade secrets, securities fraud and defamation. Ellison also represented the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in a wide variety of procurement matters including challenges to contract awards and disputes concerning contract administration as well as claims of racial discrimination in the award and administration of contracts. While at Dilworth, she served as Hiring Partner, Marketing Chair and Strategic Planning Co-Chair. She received her B.S. in Mathematics from Pennsylvania State University and her J.D. cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she served as an editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.